The Ballad of Team Black Egg
by Chibirobot
Summary: Team Black Egg never made a recovery after their fateful defeat in 2049 and to add insult to injury they became the mockery of the IGPX. Until Kale Ricarro showed up. Can the pilot rumored to be the daughter of two IGPX legends turn them around? Ch13 now
1. Chapter 1 Kale

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

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Team Black Egg never made a recovery after their fateful defeat in 2049 and to add insult to injury they became the mockery of the IGPX. Until Kale Ricarro showed up. Can the pilot rumored to be the daughter of two IGPX legends turn them around?

* * *

Disclaimage- I own IGPX… no wait... _flips script over _hmm… _flips script over a few more times_ I… _don't_ own IGPX…. Yes that looks right.

* * *

The rumble of an old-fashioned engine sounded down the street of a block of run-down warehouses. Even the nearby bay, so clear and blue did little to hide the dusty and undignified constructs. In the year 2069 a machines that used gasoline were nearly unheard of, but there one was, rolling past the bridge that was the only entrance to the block. The rider stopped the bike in front of a worn, dark building and pulled a leg over the side of the bike. A gloved hand pulled the helmet from the rider's head revealing a teenage girl. Her hair was spiky and dark and a pesky cowlick of dark hair hung off the side, blowing in the wind as if it were alive and filled with energy. She scratched her head and read the sign hanging from an ancient doorway. 

Black Seed HQ – Home sweet home.

Kale Ricarro chuckled at the realization that soon this might become her "home sweet home" as well. She would have to get used to it.

She knocked at a rusty door and waited. After a few moments she pushed it open despite an ear-piercing metallic groan. She looked around; it was hard to believe the building was darker inside than it was out. The room was lit by about three hanging lamps and two of them seemed to be about to give way. The windows were filled with metal shutters which let in only a tiny bit of light and Kale guessed that one would need at least a thirty-foot ladder to adjust them. At the very least, once one's eyes adjusted to it, it wasn't so bad.

Most of the room's room, it seemed were used to house the three metallic behemoths. This made it seem more like a hangar than a foyer. Kale looked at the three machines which were all adorned with the insignia of the infamous team, Team Black Egg. They definitely weren't the kinds of mech you saw on the tracks nowadays; they still used the pressurized skate system and bulky engine blocks. A few decades ago these would have probably been the sleekest racing machines on the speedway, but now they were outdated, dilapidated and probably slow as snails. Kale guessed that they were the same mechs that were knocked from the IG-1 all those years ago, never to return.

Kale called out, she wasn't there to sightsee, no matter how much the place looked like a museum. A bespectacled head poked out from behind one of the mechs and looked Kale over curiously. She straightened herself up and ran over to the visitor clumsily. She was still holding the holoview reader that had probably been the reason she hadn't heard the knocking. She definitely looked the type to get heavily absorbed into a book.

The short girl didn't seem to be all quite there when she squeaked out a "yes?" to Kale. The spiky-haired girl introduced herself and the bookworm threw her hands over her mouth embarrassedly, "Oh, I'm sorry. Of course. You must be the new pilot." Kale nodded and wondered if the frail girl standing in front of her was a pilot as well. She didn't look the part, but with Black Egg it was definitely possible.

The small girl turned her head put her hand to the side of her mouth, "Pops! The new pilot is here!" A door burst open and a man in his thirties walked out, looking a bit flustered.

"Now!"

"I'm sorry. I know I'm a bit early; I'll come back later if you want." Kale called out to the man who the girl had called "Pops".

The man waved his hands out in front of him, "Nonono! Please don't do that!"

He ran over to where the two teenage girls were standing and panted a little when he got there. He didn't look it, but Kale recognized him from the tabloids as the man who had been the Forward and manager of Team Black Egg for years.

Pops looked down at the bespectacled girl and smiled, "Did you greet our guest all by yourself? I'm proud of you, Amelia…"

The girl named Amelia smiled and looked away slightly embarrassedly, "I knew you were busy, Pops…"

The older man ruffled his hair and groaned, "Augh! Why do you keep calling me Pops? I'm nobody's father!"

Amelia chuckled, "Yet…"

"Ah! I heard about that!" Kale said interrupted the two teammates, "I heard about your last Defender getting pregnant; it was in a lot of magazines." She thoughtfully neglected to mention exactly what magazines.

"Ah… right. And that's where you come in… miss…?" Pops inquired and held out his hand.

"Ricarro. Kale Ricarro," She said, took the older man's hand and shook it, "Sorry about being so short-notice."

"Ah! Not at all. You were a lifesaver. If this all goes without a hitch, we might be ready in time for the next race." Pops said cheerfully. Pops looked down at Amelia and gave her a fatherly "ahem". The young bookworm blushed and looked at Kale and finally outstretched her hand.

"I'm Amelia, the Midfielder." Amelia awkwardly squeaked as Kale took her hand, "Your… your name… Miss Ricarro… are you related… by any chance… to the legendary Liz Ricarro?"

Kale nodded proudly, "Liz Ricarro is my mother. She's the reason I wanted to become an IGPX pilot."

Pops looked shocked, "Legendary…? You've got to be kidding me. This is… no way. This is incredible!"

Amelia looked away, her face gave way to her next question building in her, "Does that mean… your father… your father is… Rocket T?"

Before Kale could even respond, Pops exploded with excitement in a way most unlikely of a man his age, "ROCKET T! HOLY MOTHER OF MOCASSINS! TELL ME I'M FCKING DREAMING!"

Amelia looked at Pops, her face red with embarrassment from his outburst. She looked back at Kale, waiting eagerly at Kale; she too was hoping that this woman who had appeared at their doorstep was their messiah, their Rocket-incarnate.

Kale shook her head, "I… don't know who my father is. I'm sorry."

Pops was hardly affected by the news and grabbed Kale's hands, "Well! One out of two ain't bad! Especially when you're talking about legendary pilots! Come on, let's run some tests!"


	2. Chapter 2 Monica

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

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Disclaimage- I do not own IGPX. It belongs to someone else who is not me. That person who is not me, owns IGPX unless of course more than one person owns it. In which case none of the owners I am.

* * *

Pops drooled over the test results pulled from the IGPX simulator. This new girl was definitely a rookie but she was a quality rookie. She could have definitely been the back-up for any respectable IG-1 team. This was definitely not what he had expected when he had called for a Defender. When Team Black Egg needs a new pilot, anyone showing up at all is better than expected.

"_Kale Ricarro…"_ Pops thought to himself. He wasn't an expert on IGPX history, but Liz Ricarro was definitely a name any self-respecting pilot would recognize. The name Rocket T was even more famous. He had been a champion for years in a row and rumors had it he was trained by the original Rocket, Rocket G. The second Rocket had retired after many years of racing to become a manager of his own team, Team Rocket GTS. His team quickly worked their way to the top. The current Forward of this team, Vance Simstrum was said to be claiming the title of "Rocket" any year now. "_Rocket V…_" Pops thought, "_This is getting out of hand…_"

Kale exited the simulator and accepted a glass of water from Amelia. She walked over to Pops' desk were the aging man looked over the read-out.

"Did I make the team?"

"Well… this was mostly a formality. We would have accepted you if you were missing an arm and a leg, because you were the only offer we got… but if it really matters, yes, you made the team."

Pops thought about that for a second and continued, "But we'll have to check with Monica. Not that it's the best idea to be asking a pregnant woman for her opinion on her replacement… but we really do enjoy our formalities here."

"Momma Monica," Amelia added to show the nickname she had given to her team-captain was not the only one.

"So… your last Defender really did get pregnant? And you really are the father?" Kale inquired.

Pops nodded solemnly, "Looking back I realize it was a big mistake. We were in love and all, but our real desire was to bring our team back to its glory days. But what are you gonna do? We definitely weren't getting any younger."

Amelia giggled. Kale was glad to see that the girl was no longer acting awkwardly with her around. She was starting to feel like a member of the team.

"So… are you two the only members of Team Black Egg?" Kale asked.

"Well… yes, without Monica we are the only two. I try my best to act as Forward, team-captain and manager. We also have a mechanic, but he only shows up about once every two months."

"Mr. Hakioka is a bit lazy, but he's a good mechanic." Amelia added. Kale looked at the dilapidated mecha sitting in the next room and wondered how good this Mr. Hakioka could be.

Recognizing what Kale was thinking Pops popped in, "He really fixes them a lot. There's… just not a lot you can do for such old machines."

Kale nodded solemnly and tried to change the subject, "So… am I going to meet this Monica?"

"Of course," Pops said, "It's more a matter of when. Are you busy tonight?"

* * *

The house where Pops and Monica lived was definitely a lot nicer the Team Black Egg's headquarters. It was very suburban and almost had a surreal family atmosphere to it. It made Kale sigh and her mind filled with memories.

"I could get used to this…" Kale said absent-mindedly from a chair in the cozy sitting room.

"Momma Monica might not like that." Amelia told her from a nearby seat.

Kale was suddenly curious, "Where do you live Amelia? If you don't mind me asking."

Amelia seemed embarrassed that her new teammate would wonder about her, "Sometimes Momma Monica lets me stay here, but usually I sleep in the cockpit of my IG Machine."

"That doesn't sound very safe," Kale commented.

"Well… yes, I know our HQ doesn't have very good security… and it's not in the best neighborhood, but it really does feel safe… to me."

Before Kale could say anything about that an awkwardly plump red-headed woman was led into the room by Pops. The woman seemed to resent that her husband was leading her about and would have probably said something about it if it weren't for the fact that she was about to meet her replacement.

"This her?" The very obviously pregnant woman asked sourly.

"Yup," Pops beamed, "This is Kale Ricarro."

Kale stood and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you."

Monica reluctantly took the tomboyish girl's hand and shook it. "Don't get comfortable sweetheart," the woman ordered resentfully, "I plan to regain my place on Team Black Egg next season."

"Monica dear! You know very well you can't do that."

"Pfft," The confidant woman snarled, "By then you'll be begging me to come back to the team."

"I'm sorry, but if you've got a problem…"

"Alright, 'Spikes'. I got a problem."

"With what!" Kale demanded.

"How would you like it if I took away the only thing that mattered to you! How would you like that, huh, Spikes!"

"I could leave right now and forget about your team you know! How would you like that? I doubt you want your team to fail."

"It's alright with me. Go on get out of here!"

Suddenly, Pops let out a large laugh, "Wow, I'm glad you two are getting a long so well!"

Amelia stood up too, "You two act like you've known each other forever. This is wonderful."

Kale looked back at the Monica, ready for the pregnant woman to let out another stream of venomous language. She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything for a second. "Man I'm bushed… I hope everyone's hungry." She said finally.

Pops and Amelia both let out a cheery, "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

Kale got on her bike and looked back at the serene home and sighed again. These Black Egg people were crazy, but, just maybe she thought; they would help her finally meet her father. That was dream worth fighting for.

Next Time: Amelia


	3. Chapter 3 Amelia

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

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Disclaimage- I do not own IGPX so please don't accuse me of it. If you do I might cry and then you'll have to pat me on the shoulder and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't really mean it," and that would be a strange experience for everyone involved.

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Junk: If you don't care much for growing friendships and non IG-1 races, feel free to skip to the next chapter (which I plan to upload shortly). I won't hold it against you.

* * *

Kale saw a piece of black metal fly off her team captain's mech and nearly pelt her own, but she managed to dodge it. Having things like that happen were no good for maintaining speed and aerodynamics, but there wasn't really anything she could do, especially not in the middle of a race. 

Before she knew it, her team had begun their attack on the opposition. Pops was already in a fistfight with Team Freezer Burn's Forward and was now several yards out ahead of the other four machines. Kale punched at her chosen opponent, but he easily dodged. The new member of Team Black Egg quickly used the distraction to slip a mechanical foot out in front of the other machine and slowed. As expected, it stumbled and Kale quickly snatched the back of other machine's head and slammed it into the track. She dragged it there for a second or two, to make sure the other pilot got the message and released. The damaged figure was soon far behind them. Kale suddenly heard their rival's Midfielder taunting Amelia over the communication frequency as the two robots traded blows.

"Nyahaha, iz'zat all you got, Black Egg scum?" The other Midfielder went on.

"Why you?" Kale shouted angrily as she charged. She brought her mech between the dueling Midfielders and let a mechanical elbow make contact with another mechanical head.

"Stop! Let me do this Kale!" Amelia shouted suddenly.

"Don't worry, I got this punk,"

Kale turned to face the machine she had just given some cranial trauma and let out another couple of punches. The smaller mech was much better at dodging her blows when she didn't have the element of surprise on her side. Something made contact with her shoulders and she looked just in time to see Amelia's machine flip over her and dropkick the pestilent machine. The damaged mech bounced of the pavement a bit as the distance behind the two greyish black machines increased.

"Wow…"

"I said I had him," Amelia said defiantly. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride at her teammate's response though. "Pops! We're finished over here!"

"Finished!" Pops shouted from ahead of them, still battling the Freezer Burn's Forward, "You mean like--?"

"All clear and awaiting guidance," Amelia repeated proudly.

"Daaaamn…" Pops sighed, "Well if it's not too much to ask, could you help me with this guy?"

The two black machines sped up and overtook the two dancing Forwards. In a quick movement displaying unexpected teamwork they grabbed the only remaining opposing machine and tossed him off behind them.

"Well I could've done that…" Pops replied to their feat over the communication channel.

"I don't believe this!" The announcer declared, "For the first time in who-knows-how-long Team Black Egg has scored a perfect victory! This is really unbelievable folks!"

* * *

Kale had listened to the various reports of the race on the radio all afternoon. Most of them hailed her as the prime reason for Team Black Egg's sudden victory, but she knew that wasn't the only reason. She hated to use such an obvious cliché, but she really couldn't have done it without Amelia. Suddenly she decided that she really wanted to thank the girl herself. She stood up and walked across the cold hangar looking for the young bookworm. 

Before she could even check some obvious spots the young Midfielder came running up to her looking terrible.

"Kale!"

"Wha-huh? What's wrong?"

The girl looked like she was about to cry and as soon as she grabbed hold of her teammate she did. The girl did her best to explain between sobs, but it all came out as gibberish.

Kale finally made sense of the hysterical girl's dilemma and felt a heartfelt need to help her somehow. She wrapped her arms around the girl and repeated some words she thought might help. After a while, she was starting to think it wasn't any use when the girl's sobs started to slow. She pulled her body away slowly.

"I… I… want to make a memorial…"

Kale nodded, "Yeah… you should."

Amelia was soon out of the room. "Wow… what was that all about?" Kale heard Pops say from somewhere behind her. She turned and looked at the older man who stared at were their teammate had just been looking surprised.

"Her cat died."

"I didn't know she had a cat…"

"It was a stray; she said she's been feeding it for weeks. I think it got hit by a car or something."

"Sad… how the hell did you understand all of that?"

Kale shrugged, "You… just kind of… gotta connect the dots." Pops scratched his head and Kale decided she'd go find her distressed teammate.

Outside in a grassy spot right where the building ended and the ground began she found the dark-haired teenager. She was in a squatting position in front of something and looked to be praying. As she got closer, Kale could see it was an old clipboard with words on it that seemed to say:

RIP

Kitty

Amelia stood as she heard her consoler draw near and Kale walked up beside her. She took the same position the younger girl had just been in and pretended to pray. Once she figured she had pretended long enough, she stood and looked at her friend. The girl sniffled a little bit.

"I'm sorry, I should…" The girl said as she started to wipe her eyes.

Kale held up her hands to stop her, "No, its okay. You should cry if you need to."

Kale backed up and watched as Amelia started to really bawl. It was a heart-wrenching sight, but the Defender decided it was best not to interfere. Once the crying subsided, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms loosely around the girls neck and leaned slightly. She didn't know why she did it, but she was glad she did.

"Thank you Kale…"

"Don't thank me, thank the little voice in my head that told me to do that."

"No… I mean for everything."

"Well, you can thank the other voices for that. Although… I'm not sure which one's for what though…"

This caused the girl in her arms to giggle. "_Don't laugh, it's a funeral_." Kale said from between her lips. The girl laughed really hard at this and nearly forced the taller girl to let go of her. Kale laughed too just because of the contagiousness of it.

Kale released on of her arms so that one of her arms was still on the other girl's shoulder as she lead her from the makeshift tombstone. She was still kind of giggly when she said, "Come on, I feel like I should buy you something or something."

Next time: Cunningham


	4. Chapter 4 Cunningham

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

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Disclaimage- This is not a disclaimer, but it probably should be if I don't want to get sued. 

The following probably breaks more copyright laws than I would know what to do with. So, apologies... hope that works .

* * *

Junk: The fan in me was screaming "Don't do this to Cunningham!" as I wrote this, but the writer in me said "You have to..." 

I apologize in advance, because I listened my writer side.

* * *

"Hello folks! Welcome to the opening ceremony of the race of races, the competition of competitions, the one you've all been waiting for, the IG-1! I'm your host, Sean Shine!" A small excitable man announced over the dimly-lit, yet very classy auditorium, "We've got an exciting line-up for you this year that I think you're all going to love!" 

The lights blinked on revealing the individual teams.

"First off, we have our number one team from last year! Team Rocket GTS!" Sean Shine beamed as he introduced the three champion pilots. "Team-captain Vance Simstrum has made some seriously hefty claims about this year's competition. Do you think you could repeat them for today's audience?"

The announcer leaned the microphone to allow the much taller young man to speak, "If you want to see history in the making this year, just remember not to blink."

"Confident words from a confident pilot," Mr. Shine went on as he moved to the next team, "Next up, we have the always surprising, Team Wild Jack. Do you have anything you want to say to your constant rivals, Team Rocket GTS?"

A stern-looking woman with straight reddish-brown hair down past her shoulders quickly snatched the microphone from the smaller man and gave her abrasive reply, "F&ck you, Vance!"

A teammate of the woman's quickly snatched the microphone from his team-captain said in a thick French accent, "What Jacqueline is trying to say is that we definitely wont lose this year."

Jacqueline gave the Defender a serious glare as he handed the microphone back to Mr. Shine. "Well that was definitely what I'd expect from the impressive Team Wild Jack. Moving on we have Team Skylark, a vigilant team that has brought beautiful ladies to the IGPX for many years."

Sean Shine passed by the three women and gave them all a brief history and where their recent modeling projects could be seen. It was hardly unknown that Skylark's sponsors gave them plenty of money to throw around for things like paying announcers.

Mr. Shine moved on, "And here is Team Windy Bird. As many of you know each member of Team Windy Bird uses a different bird to help them on the track. Team-captain, Donald Grazne has been nicknamed Donald "The Quack" for some of his unusual plays run with his beloved bird, Daffodil. No offense, Mr. Grazne."

A clean-cut young man in a white suit with a bright yellow canary on his shoulder answered, "None taken of course"

"He may be a quack but he's definitely a charmer. No wonder Team Windy Bird is so popular with the ladies. Next on the list is Team White Snow." Sean Shine looked over at the space that was supposed to be taken by three pilots and only found one, "Where are your teammates?"

A bulky but pale man took the microphone from the announcer and stated to the whole audience, "Team White Snow's foremost sponsor UG-Technis Corporation has given my team two of their best racing robots to pose as my teammates this year. Depending on their performance we shall see if I too get replaced by a computer." The large man let out a loud laugh.

"Well they must be a very important sponsor because I don't think I've ever heard that many words coming from the mouth of Demetri Caucasus before." Sean Shine said as he regained the microphone from White Snow's team-captain., "And lastly we have the newest team to join the IG-1 this year. They may not look like much, but they really beat the odds in the IG-2 and have definitely turned some heads."

Kale smiled as much as she could. She'd never been in front of this many people and she knew that the rest of the planet was watching from home or wherever. She could tell Amelia wasn't having much fun either.

"Mr. Sinclair, you've been a huge part of Team Black Egg for a long time, but this is the first time you've been in the IG-1. How does that make you feel?"

"Well I know that there are people who have done way more for this team, but I'm glad I could stick around long enough to see this day." Pops said into the microphone.

"Well you really showed them, didn't you?"

"Most of them are dead."

"Oh, I see… And here's the most interesting pilot to pop out of the woodworks, Kale Ricarro. She is rumored to be the daughter of the undeniably famous Rocket T. So far there has been no substantial proof to confirm or deny this. Still it is an incredible joy to think that someone who has the very flesh and blood of a Rocket will be taking on Team Rocket GTS, who stand for everything the title "Rocket" connotes! So Ms. Ricarro, they have been calling you the Black Rocket on many a media forum, how does that make you feel?"

Sean Shine leaned in the microphone to allow Kale to speak, "Well it's the first time I've heard of it… but I suppose considering what I'm really trying to do here, I could be considered somewhat of an anti "Rocket". But I really am getting tired of the way that word has been thrown around." Kale's eyes met with those of the champion Forward across the room and it seemed as if a buzz of electricity went through the air. It was not hard to see that Vance had taken her words as a very serious challenge.

* * *

"Well team, it looks like we're in trouble. Our first race as part of the IG-1 is next week and against Team Windy Bird. That's nothing to laugh about for any team, but especially troubling for us. With the current state of our current IG Machines, Team Windy Bird could knock us from the IG-1 permanently," Pops said from behind his desk to the two teenagers who made up the rest of Team Black Egg, "We've gotten a few sponsor offers lately, but there's no way we'll be able to buy new mechs without putting ourselves in a huge debt and frankly I can't see any way around it." 

Kale sighed; they had worked so hard to get to where they were. The challenges of the IG-1 had barely begun and here they were, about to make a crucial decision that could change the future of Team Black Egg forever. If they took on Team Windy Bird as they were, they might lose a whole lot more than a race. That option was definitely out of the question. They could buy new ones, but that could cause them a debt that could follow them around for years. Even if they did, the chance of winning against an IG-1 team made that plan almost as bad as the last. Their last choice seemed to be to give up unless they could some way find a sponsor that could buy them new mechs, among other things. There wasn't much chance of that though.

Amelia spoke up and startled the other two, "I have an idea."

* * *

One man sat in a large office. The ceiling stretched out way higher than most which went from the lengthy hallway-like entrance to the large windows that stretched out high above where the man sat. There was a buzz from the desk the man sat behind, he leaned forward a bit and pressed the liquid-like pad that functioned as a button. 

A female voice erupted from the desk immediately, "Mr. Cunningham, sir, the "Black Egg" people are here to speak with you. Shall I let them in?"

Alex Cunningham let out his distracted reply as he pressed the pad, "Yes…"

"Sir…?"

"I said let them in, dammit!"

"I'm sorry, sir, of course." The voice returned through the desk.

The man sighed and reclined in his chair slightly. This was pretty much all he did all day, sigh, recline and talk to people not even close to as rich as he was, but were too high-and-mighty to talk to anyone else. Today was something different, but Cunningham wasn't about to get excited about it. He wasn't the type to get excited, even when the chance to get revenge on Takeshi Jin arose.

Two teenage girls were led into the room. Cunningham recognized immediately the Ricarro girl, she looked almost unbelievably like her parents. She had an aura of defiance about her.

The woman who had let them in excused herself and the two figures stopped short of the large desk.

"Where is Mr. Sinclair? I briefly spoke with him on the phone and expected to see him here." Cunningham idly inquired to his guests.

"He was very busy. He has had a lot of paperwork to do since we entered the IG-1." Kale told him just before Amelia could begin to speak. She knew she was much less qualified to deal with business matters than either of her teammates, but she could feel the girl's intimidation. She figured the billionaire was probably more interested in speaking with her anyway.

"Ah yes, I hear you will be racing against Team Windy Bird next week. They're quite formidable and probably a tad peeved at only taking 4th place last year."

"4th place isn't so bad." Amelia added finally.

"No, probably not, being in the IG-1 at all is a great achievement. But I know Windy Bird's type, cocky and arrogant. I've known quite a few racers like them. Surely you've heard of my rivalry with Takeshi Jin, or as everyone seems to call him now, Rocket T?" Cunningham said as he stood from his chair and paced behind the desk.

As he had expected the two teenagers nodded.

"The two of us were probably the most cocky and arrogant racers that ever lived. I respected him and I thought he shared the same sentiments. I naïvely suspected that he and I would continue our rivalry to the grave. Cheeky as ever he retired at the same time I did and we both went to setting up our own teams to continue the feud between Velshtein and Satomi into the next generation. Due to his scheming, my team never made it into the IG-1. That wasn't the end of the world as I still had several multi-million dollar businesses to fall back on. No matter how tactless and lowly it might be, I swore I'd have my revenge on him for taking the IGPX away from me."

"That was… educational…" Kale muttered after Cunningham had finished his monologue.

"It's no mystery that I hate Takeshi Jin. I hear its quite common knowledge. Which is why I presume you're here, you want to exploit my hatred for a sponsorship."

"Not exactly…" Amelia muttered.

"Don't give me that," Cunningham said as he stared out the window, "I'm no fool. I can think of only one reason that the team Takeshi Jin's illegitimate daughter races for would ask me for help. By becoming the sponsor of Team Black Egg, I could use it to so that I could exact my revenge on Takeshi's precious Rocket GTS with his own daughter."

"It sounds so sinister when you say it like that." Amelia squeaked.

"Call it a talent…" Cunningham said as he turned he head from the window to grin at the young Midfielder.

"So you won't help us?" Kale asked the grinning ex-champion.

"I never said I didn't think it was a good plan. It's not very subtle, but subtlety is not a commodity of vengeful old men like me."

"You aren't that old Mr. Cunningham, sir." Amelia told him brightly.

"Please Ms. Bestride; I'm not a huge fan of suck-ups."

Next Time: Pops


	5. Chapter 5 Pops

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Disclaimage- I don't own IGPX, sue me. (But please not literally)

* * *

There was a definite buzz about the race between Team Wild Jack and Team Rocket GTS. Kale had not seen the footage herself but she had heard it was an amazing race. As expected GTS had pulled out a victory and Wild Jack's Forward, Jacqueline Leangel was pissed off to high heaven. This wasn't uncommon, she was well known for her constant tantrums and repeatedly being sent to anger management by the IGPX committee, but no one really expected her to change. There were rumors that the pilot was actually an ex-girlfriend of Vance Simstrum who was willing to part oceans if it meant she could finally beat him at his own game in defiance of being dumped by the legendary racer. There was little basis to these rumors, but considering her hatred towards Vance and Vance alone, it really didn't seem to matter.

Kale walked passed were the new mechs were being touched up by Team Black Egg's very own team of mechanics who respectfully listened to Mr. Hakioka yammer on about how he used to race with Vance Simstrum's fourth cousin's girlfriend's cousin's imaginary friend's once acquaintance's aunt's ex-husbands old friend from college. Amelia was absorbed into another read causing the mechanics a bit of trouble constantly stepping over and around her. Although oblivious to the mechanical geniuses she managed to tear herself away from her holoview reader long enough to give the Defender a shy wave. After giving a wave in return that the girl didn't seem to notice, Kale finally entered Pops' office.

"Is there something you wanted to see me about?"

The spiky-haired teenager's eyes fell on one figure who she did not expect to be in the office as well. He had spiky brown hair and wore a black sweatshirt adorned with stylized shuriken and the name of some sport company, Kale didn't recognize.

"Yes," Pops said simply knowing that his guest had already been noticed.

"Is this our new back-up pilot?" Kale asked the Forward.

"No Kale, this is Rye Descatellie, our new full-time pilot." Pops said.

As he had expected the teenage girl asked, "But why? We already have three pilots."

"Yes we do." Pops said, he didn't feel like rushing into the news he was about to break to the girl.

"This isn't about replacing Amelia is it? I know she's not exactly a strong girl, but it'll break her heart if you put her sidelines."

"No we aren't replacing Amelia. I'm hoping that she will be up for the race against Windy Bird in a few days." Pops said solemnly, still not rushing the matter.

"Then… you are going to replace me?" Kale asked as the next possible answer came to mind. Pops shook his head and it donned on the Defender, "Then you--?"

"Yes, I would like to retire as a pilot and become the full-time manager of Team Black Egg…"

"But why?"

"Let's face it Kale, I'm not suited for the IG-1, you and Amelia have a future in this sport and I'll just slow you down. Besides, I could do more for this team right here behind this desk."

"So… bread-boy here will be our new Forward?" Kale asked.

"Bread boy?" Rye asked as he finally spoke, obviously not understanding the joke or just wanting to make sure had heard the older girl correctly.

"That's what I brought you in here for Kale. Rye has told me that he is trained as both Forward and Defender, so first I thought I'd offer the position to you."

Kale was stunned, "I've never been a Forward before…"

"I know you'll be great Kale, you have what it takes. You also strike me as a born leader." Pops told the stunned pilot.

"Sir, she said herself that she doesn't know how to be a Forward. If you just let me be team-captain, I assure you that you won't regret it."

"Shut up Rye and let the girl answer."

Kale regained her composure and smiled, "I'll do it."

"Thank you Kale. Although… one thing before I hand over the reigns… make sure not to give bread-boy here any slack. I don't appreciate his attitude."

"You're calling me that too?" Rye gasped.

Pops smiled and nodded, "Don't take it personally; nick-names are a Black Egg tradition now. Amelia gave me and my wife ours. Monica gave Spikes here hers'. And now you've got one."

"It means your part of the team, short-stuff," Kale added and smiled.

"Another one?" Rye asked.

"No, that one was just a comment on your height. You can take that one personally if you want." Kale told the boy and gave him a friendly flick on the forehead. Pops and Kale both laughed themselves silly at the new Defender's expense. Rye's face was bright red as the two stopped laughing and gave him a reassuring smile. Even if the boy didn't realize it yet, he was going to fit right in.

Next Time: Donald


	6. Chapter 6 Donald

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Disclaimage- Of the things that legally belong to me in this world, a digital camera, some Transformers, a couple of books and comics and some money... the legal rights to series know as IGPX are not included. 

This story is written without any real permission of whoever does.

* * *

Disclaimage 2- This story is rated T for language and sexuality (The "homo" kind, not the "Bow-chika-bow" kind) 

Maybe I should have put this sooner.

* * *

Junk- Thanks for the reviews. I appreciate them.

AnaLakura, I don't really get what you're asking. Cunningham is Team Black Egg's top sponsor because it will help him get revenge on Takeshi. As of now we don't exactly know what Takeshi did to Cunningham to piss him off (Although I say we, I do actually know).

As for Takeshi's involvement with in the story, he is the legendary racer known as Rocket T and the manager of the champion Team Rocket GTS. He may also be the father of Kale Ricarro, the main character in this story (although I figure it's pretty obvious that he is).

* * *

"Kale…" Amelia said shyly as the pilot's prepared for their first IG-1 race. 

"What is it Amelia?" Kale said as she put her helmet on.

"There's… something we haven't told you about this race…"

* * *

A fully-suited Team Black Egg met their opponents in the halls. Donald Grazne stood at the front of the other two pilots with his vivid friend on his shoulder. 

"Ah hello there Black Egg. I just wanted to tell you that when I kick your butts today, please refrain from "birdbrain" comments. They're getting really old," The Forward said and let the canary from his shoulder to his finger and pet the suited animal with his finger, "And Daffodil really doesn't appreciate them."."

Ignoring what the other team-captain was babbling about Kale spoke, "So… Donald, I hear you're a traitor…"

"Did Amelia tell you that?" Donald asked, "I never thought it appropriate that Charles took her off the street and made her part of the team. I was quite amused to find out that she became my replacement."

"So it's true."

"What if it is? I got an offer from a real team to be a team-captain. Since I met Daffodil, I never thought about going back. She is the best team-mate I have ever had… Charles never respected my ideas; all he cared about were Monica and Amelia." "The Quack" of the IG-1 went on.

"I don't care about your stupid story. You gave up on Pops, Monica, Amelia and most of all your duty to Team Black Egg. I can't forgive you for that."

"I'm sorry to have to break this to you little Rocket, but Team Black Egg is a joke and always will be."

"I think that should be decided on the track, don't you?" Kale said, trying to keep her cool in the face of this arrogant young man.

"Don't worry about that little Rocket. Your time will come soon enough." Donald said with a smile. He motioned to his team with his free hand and they walked off."

"What a freak." Rye said not really caring whether Team Windy Bird was out of earshot.

"Yeah, but Pops used to really trust him. He never really got over him leaving the team." Amelia said.

"Don't worry, Amelia, He's gonna pay." Kale reassured the Midfielder.

"What's with you guys anyway?" Rye asked, "Why are you always 'Team Black Egg' this and 'Team Black Egg' that?"

Kale looked up, "I don't know… but ever since I joined, it started to seem to me that this team stood for things like teamwork and family. Call it cheesy, but I don't know how anyone could give it up…"

"Man, I though I was joining an IGPX team not a cult." Rye muttered as he shook his head.

* * *

"Hello race-fans! This is an exciting match we have here today," Sean Shine announced to the audience, "Its Team Black Egg's first race in the IG-1 in a long time and it's against six very tough customers. I'd like to note that Black Egg has made a serious team change since the opening ceremony. The fiery rookie with legendary blood in her veins, Kale Ricarro has left her position as Defender and become the team's Forward. This is very exciting for anyone who remembers Rocket T's epic racing as Forward for Team Satomi. If Kale hasn't taken entirely after her mother, we're sure to see something big here today. Taking Kale's place as Defender is a Rye Decatellie, another rookie who seems to have been hand-picked by Black Egg's new sponsor Alex Cunningham. That's a name that hasn't been associated with the IGPX in a long while. For those of you who don't know Cunningham used to be the champion Forward for Team Velshtein who was one of Rocket T's constant competitors. He left the sport on incredibley bad terms with the Rocket and has been rumored to be planning his revenge on the now team-manager. Could there be something sinister afoot here, folks? I just can't to see wait what happens. But enough about Team Black Egg as Team Windy Bird's mechs enter the track. They took fourth place last year and surely don't plan on losing their first match especially not against this year's rookie team. I'm still not sure what birds have to do with three vaguely Hispanic-looking young men, but I guess it's really not up to me to question a team's foremost gimmick. Many of you know Forward, Donald "The Quack" Grazne and Daffodil, but the rest of Team Windy Bird doesn't get much publicity although seemingly just as crazy as their team-captain. Midfielder Zé Carioca hails from South America and races with his feathered-friend, Peanut the macaw. Peanut may seem like just another talking bird down on the track, but he has been known to pep-talk his partner Zé in both English and Portuguese who has been known to get a little hot under the collar during races. Defender Francis Romero is from Central America races with his parakeet Pancho, neither of them talk much, but they make a deadly team. As Black Egg gets into position it's just about time to start the race." Kale fidgeted in her mech, she didn't have that much time to get used to her new machine before she was given a new one when her position was changed. It was actually her first time being inside this one. A voice came over the communication frequency, "Ms. Ricarro…?" 

"Huh? This is… Zé, right?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you that your mother was a great inspiration to me and many other Brazilian pilots." The Midfielder told her.

"I'll be sure to tell her that."

"And this is a secret frequency, so don't tell Donald we had this little talk," Came the voice of Zé's feathered partner.

"_Secret frequencies_…" Kale thought, "_Team Windy Bird is full of surprises…_" The screen flashed "GO" and all six machines exploded forward.

* * *

"Both teams have been maintaining position as usual. Team Windy Bird has the lead and so far Black Egg has made no attempts to pass them." Sean Shine told the audience as the two teams sped down the track. 

"What are you guys?" Kale heard a female voice say over the communication frequency, "Chicken?"

"Now-now Daffodil, we shouldn't pester the little Rocket or she might cry," Donald told his partner.

Kale tried to stay calm, if they tried to pass them too soon, they might take too much damage which was something they couldn't risk at this stage.

"Yo Captain! What's the plan?" Rye called to her.

"Stay in formation, I'll tell you when to advance." Kale told him, but she wasn't surprised that the energetic teen was on edge. They had a lot to lose.

"That's a great plan, Captain… if you want to make us lose this race."

"Rye Descatellie has suddenly broken formation and has begun to try overtaking their opponents. This could be a serious problem." The announcer told the crowd.

"Dammit, Rye what are you doing?" The newly-appointed team-captain shouted.

Team Windy Bird's machines turned as the lone Defender charged them. Donald's voice came over the frequency, "Francis, Pancho, take care of this would you?"

The other Defender gave no reply, but quickly slipped out in front of the black machine and delivered a crushing swing. Rye was able to block it with his arm, but another mechanical claw was already on the move. The rookie clumsily blocked the second arm, but Francis was on the move again and retreated a few yards back. Rye was not about to be made a mockery of by the silent pilot and charged again. He threw a solid punch, but it was easily dodged and a metal foot met a mechanical abdomen and Rye was sent flying.

"Ooh, that will definitely teach the rookie a lesson about taking matters into his own hands. It seems that Team Black Egg is going to have to have to call the first time-out."

The lighted sign went on and the racers were forced to slow. Donald let out a loud laugh and his partner joined him, "What kind of pilot has to call a pit on the first lap?"

"Not even rookies are that bad." The yellow bird said.

"Dammit," Kale said, "I've never seen a Defender move that fast…"

"I don't see why he shouldn't be able to, with two minds working at the same time and focusing entirely on the race, I assume one can do a lot of things."

"Thank you Mel, that was really reassuring…"

"Sorry Kale…"

The safety beacon faded on the six pilots again sped forward.

"And we're heading into the second lap here, folks," Sean Shine announced, "This is where things could really get messy!"

Next Time: Daffodil

* * *


	7. Chapter 7 Daffodil

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Disclaimage- I don't own IGPX. I mean, I don't even own the DVDs, I mean I saw them at the store and thought "I could use these to make a clever disclaimer", butI decided against it. Having to pay money to be clever, really sucks...

* * *

Junk- Well reviewer by the name of David, I can't say I knew that. I figure that makes it time to unleash the excuse I've been saving for when any technical errors arose.

This story takes place almost two decades after the series of IGPX we know, you can expect some things will just change.

If you don't buy that, than maybe you can believe that I'm just too lazy to change it at this point. Certain rules have changed for a reason, which will be revealed why and how later.

* * *

Kale traded punches with the talented racer known "The Quack". 

"I'll admit little Rocket, I underestimated you. You just might survive this match…" The Forward told her arrogantly. Kale heard a female voice laugh over the communication frequency.

"But please, don't rush to your death for our sake." The canary told her.

"Yes," Donald replied, playing off his partner's line, "We can arrange a nice slow one for you, quite easily."

Kale broke off their staring match and pulled up along side the Windy Bird mech. She decided to give him the privilege of seeing one of her favorite maneuvers. She feigned the first punch and slipped a foot out in front of the enemy Forward. As she had hoped, he stumbled and quickly got a claw around the back of his head and slammed it into the track. It felt differently when she did it with her new machine, which was a lot more agile, but it still felt good to pull it out once again. She released the machine and let him fall behind. It wasn't really unexpected that he recovered faster then the pilots she had used it on in the IG-2.

"Cute, little Rocket, very cute." Donald said, obviously pissed at being played so well, "Zé! Francis! Maneuver; Peacock!"

The two pilots didn't need to be told twice as the quickly ended their own little battles and sped between were the two Forwards were and the other two. The aligned themselves side by side, facing opposite directions and after a bit of mechanical reworking, positioned a powerful engine on the top of each arm.

"Ready, sir!" The pilots repeated as they had trained. Donald's own mech reworked itself and a large fan-like sail opened on his back.

"Adios, little Rocket." Donald said and gave the signal to his team-mates. A huge burst of wind exploded from the two Windy Bird pilot's mechs. The wind made it impossible to coordinate oneself and by the time the heavy gust had died down Donald was far ahead.

"Dammit!" Kale yelled and charged as fast as she could to catch up the pilot and his companion whose' laughing could still be heard over the communication frequency.

"Incredible, I think this is the first time I can honestly say one of "The Quack's" plays was a complete success. I'm shocked…" The energetic announcer relayed to the general public.

The two Windy Bird pilots once again took on their corresponding opponent who had been seriously shaken by their attack. Donald removed his sail as the effects of the maneuver started to wear off.

"Do you think we should enter Speed mode and finish this one, Daffodil?" Donald said as he chuckled over his eminent success.

"I thought we were going to make this one slow and painful for our little, rookie friend." Daffodil responded to her partner.

"I don't think there's anything 'slow' about what we've done to her now, but I think I agree with you on one point. Let's bring on the pain…"

Kale tried her best to close the gap between her and the other Forward, but it seemed like a lost cause much to her frustration. She listened to her opponent babble with his bird on the open frequency. The Forward shouted in her anguish as she pulled forward going as faster than she ever had. Her teammates were a long way behind her now and there was little chance she could help them if they were in trouble.

"Little Rocket, you know that right now Zé and Francis could be tearing your teammates to scrap-metal and there's nothing you can do?" Donald said as if reading her thoughts.

"Maybe you should go back, it's not like you're going to beat us anyway." Daffodil said; the two of them completely content with their taunting.

Kale thought about what they were saying, it was looking pretty dim for them right now and Amelia and Rye were more important than a race. She was just about ready to give in to their taunts when a voice buzzed over the communicator, "Don't worry about us Kale, teaching these guys a lesson could be tough, but if any one can do it, you can Kale."

The Forward knew it was true; right now there were two pilots who she could count on and two who really needed to be taught a lesson. With her mushy moment of enlightenment complete she shouted over the communicator at her foe, "You know what Donald? You should shut the hell up!"

Rather than have the effect she had hoped for, the two pilots began to laugh, "You hear that Daffodil, she's tired of listening to us? You know what that means."

"Right, let's give her a little squawk-talk…"

Kale's cockpit started to buzz. "What was that? Hello? Hello!" The Forward called out.

"Ooh that's low, Team Windy Bird seems to be jamming Team Back Egg's communications. I see no rules against it, but that's really dirty." The announcer declared.

"If you keep your wings clean and white, people will think you're an angel. But we are no angels, we are HUMAN ANIMALS!" Team Windy Bird's Forward proclaimed.

"Um… Donald that's really poetic and everything… but… no one can hear us." Daffodil told her partner.

"Shit, I forgot."

"It seems that Kale Ricarro has switched into Speed mode and has nearly closed the gap with her opponent. This is really impressive; I never thought she'd actually catch up."

Donald growled and switched into Speed mode himself, but the black machine was already on his tail.

"She's using our wind-resistance. Shake her dammit!" An infuriated avian shouted to her partner. The Windy Bird machine strafed around the track, but couldn't get the pilot off. Kale suddenly pulled forward, the beauty of her chosen maneuver. Before pulling completely ahead she turned hard and cut off Donald's mech. The machine spun out and Kale used the chance to pull forward and complete the last leg of the race and pass the finish line.

"Incredible! Donald has wiped out and Kale Ricarro takes the checkered flag. In second place it's Zé Carioca and third is Amelia Bestride. Team Black Egg wins their first race in the IG-1. We really have seen the 'Black Rocket' in action today folks. It looks like Vance had better look out for this girl!"

The three Black Egg pilots congregated on the finish line. Amelia gave their Forward a hug as the crowd cheered. Kale didn't miss an opportunity to punish Rye for disobeying her and gave him a quick punch in the stomach. She called over the roar of the crowd, "And don't think for a second you didn't deserve that.

Two men approached them, the shorter of the two held out a hand and Kale shook and smiled as if they were old friends. Amelia and Rye stared questioningly and looked at the other pilot's taller and darker friend, but the Defender just shrugged.

"So where are your friends?" The winner of the race asked noticing the two pilot's birds missing and not to mention their team-captain.

"Animal treatment associations have been breathing down our necks since this team was started. The only way we could calm them down is if we scheduled each of our partners with an emergency vet at the end of each race. I'm sure they're fine though," Zé told them with a strange flare of innocence for someone of twenty or so years old. Francis put his hand on his team-mate's shoulder and nodded silently.

"It's not that this has been the first time Donald's been beaten or anything, but I really thought he had you this time. How'd you do it?"

"Well, I guess once I got his voice out of my head and could focus on the race… I don't know; it just seemed so simple then." Kale told the Midfielder truthfully.

"Well I guess I have to thank you. Don's been rambling through the whole off-season about this how this one was going to be his year. I'm glad someone finally him a reality check."

The taller man lumped on to his partner's shoulder as if a huge weight had just been lifted from him and was sore as hell from the ordeal. "You can say that again…" Francis Romero said as the first time Team Black Egg had heard him speak alone. In an unusual display of affection completely unlike anything they had seen from him so far he wrapped his arms around Zé's form and smiled.

The partially Hispanic man blushed and squirmed a bit. "Not here…" He whispered.

Kale's mouth fell open wide at the display and realized her team-mates were as equally stunned. She chuckled and looked up to the sky and wondered if Team Windy Bird's Forward knew about this.

Next Time: Rocket T


	8. Chapter 8 Rocket T

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Disclaimage- I'm bored, who wants pizza? Oh right, I don't own IGPX and stuff, capiche?

* * *

Junk- I wanted to save this chapter until I at least had more readers or something. In essence, it's pretty hefty, if I do say so myself. It looks like that won't happen, so... 

Here it is. The reunion...

* * *

Kale had gotten nothing but praise since the race had ended. Pops had given each and every one of them a crushing bear hug. Cunningham had actually given them a less-than-sinister smile. She found a truckload of fan-mail waiting for her and she barely made it to her bike the next morning with everyone in her apartment complex asking her for an autograph. She new she should have been excited, but deep down she felt trapped, like she had just begun a journey she could never finish and never be free of. Too many people had lost everything they ever had because of this sport. Once it was done with her, she'd just be another notch in the track and no one would remember her name. 

Luckily the park was almost empty. She really needed something to calm her nerves and nothing but good clean air would even come close. She flopped down on a bench and looked at the sky. She realized this was a common pastime of people who had big dreams and something to aspire too.

What were her dreams? What could she possibly aspire to?

She looked back down and found nothing. She figured, that up wasn't so bad, when nothing was waiting for you when you looked around. It was true, even a monkey, if given enough time could win a race in the IG-1 and rookies doing so on the first try weren't all that uncommon. She'd just have to find some way to keep going up and never stop or she'd have to fall. But everyone falls in the IG-1. You have to. Was the real question whether you fell with a smile on your face? It sounded painful when she thought about, but she really didn't have any other choice.

She realized that this was a bad thing to think about and attempted to work her mind around something else. She tried to think about how to beat White Snow next week, but her mind kept going back to the futility of it all. What if she did win? What then? What then…

Win again. Win again and again and again until she had nothing left?

Kale jumped from the bench and shouted, wishing she could just live her own life, whether or not in involved the IGPX. She saw an older couple hurry to get away from the crazy teenage girl with the spiky hair and the leather jacket shouting at nothing in particular. Her face went red and she looked away, but could find nothing worthy of her attention until her gaze met a sign. It said:

Meet Rocket T!

Today!

She snorted out a laugh and walked towards were the arrow pointed. It might be a good way to waste some time and distract her.

* * *

She looked at the next sign which read off the scheduled times in which "Rocket T" would be appearing. It seemed she was in luck so she sat down in one of the benches not taken up by small children and their mothers. A balloon hit the sunlight and it seemed to glow with some unknown force that reminded her of her own childhood. She remembered when she had longer hair and her mother would always tell her not to make the same mistakes she had. She never understood; her mother had never been anything but the ideal single parent. One day, she managed to catch an old program about the legendary Liz Ricarro who had disappeared from the face of the earth at the top of her game. She didn't ask her mother about it, but she got her hair cut anyway and would sneak out to practice at the simulators. She raced until she was as good as the older boys and then better. She was a natural and so she finally asked her mother about it. She couldn't remember exactly how it happened, but her mother told her yet again not to make the same mistakes she did and ended up crying. Kale still couldn't understand it, even now. 

She wouldn't make the same mistakes; the Liz Ricarro whom she idolized was an incredible IGPX pilot who would never quit. She knew this in her heart, but still…

A grotesquely large man in an IGPX get-up and a cape hopped on to the stage and introduced himself as Rocket T. The children clapped as he told of his exciting races. The mothers tried to distract themselves from the spectacle. One of their eyes met with Kale's. She smiled, but the woman quickly looked away.

The rookie forward thought about leaving, with no tyke to keep her there, but decided against it. This was supposedly her father's legacy and even if it were butchered for the short-attention span and black-and-white philosophy of the audience. She could at least try; even if she wasn't sure she had the stomach to watch the large man parade about and make a fool of himself. She saw someone enter the small park amphitheater. A clean-cut man in a suit with charcoal black hair made his way down the rows and sat down at the same bench as her.

She recognized him instantly, but had no idea how. She couldn't look away and the man noticed her watching him and looked over. He stared for a second and something hit him and he looked away. He gritted his teeth as Kale stood up and crossed the rest of the short length of the bench to sit down next to him.

"Well I can't say I expected to see you here…" She figured was a nice way to start her first conversation she had ever had with her father.

"I come here from time to time. This park was once the only place I could come to clear my mind. Besides… I hear it's not uncommon for some overworked schmo like me to want to see someone who actually did something with his life to make himself feel better." He said and smiled at her, when he was met with no similar response, he looked away again.

"I doubt you'll believe this, but if there was anyway I could make up for the mistakes I've made in the past; I'd take it in an instant…"

The girl made no response and the man on the stage retreated back to wherever he came from as the limited applause rang out. A myriad of children and mothers flocked the aisles and soon they were just about the only ones sitting. The sun sunk in the distance.

"I know…"

The man looked at her stunned as if expected a punch to the face or something similar.

"For a long time, I wanted to believe my father was an evil man. He left my mother and ruined her life… I couldn't do it though. I knew all along that you were just scared." She told him bluntly.

"Don't tell anyone though…" He said. Kale realized for the first time, that this was a man with a sense of humor. He was slightly awkward in the way he talked and she wondered how the hell this man had made such a name for himself. She understood completely somehow, despite the feeling that she should be wanting to rip the man's throat out about then. She could feel nothing but understanding.

"So… here I am. Your daughter," She looked at him, "Can't say you have too many of those can you? Um… can you?"

The man nodded as if embarrassed, "Your mother was the only woman for me…"

"You're not at all what I expected…."

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know…"

They were silent for a few moments. "I saw your race… In a word, it was inspirational."

"I made my old man proud, then?" Kale asked as she began to feel like they were both sort of opening up to one another.

"Maybe…"

The reigning Rocket stood up and made his way to the aisle.

"Let's make a deal!" She called after him suddenly, "If I win the championship… you'll meet with mom… and Cunningham…"

The man didn't turn around, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you have it in for me."

"They won't kill you, I can promise you that much…"

Takeshi Jin turned around and their eyes' met. He spoke seriously as if he were completely different from the unusual man she had just met, "When you were born I was as happy as any man could be… well, I wasn't exactly a man, but still, I was smiling from ear to ear. I looked in your eyes and something fell on me like a bag of bricks. I would make a loser husband and a loser father. I was also a teenager, with an unimaginable career still ahead of me. I ran… I ran away from Liz and I ran from you. I used some money from the fortune I'd made from racing to pay everyone I knew off so the media would never know you were born. It wasn't me at all and by the time a came to, I realized I could never go back… I'm a man who never goes back. Trained like a mouse in a maze. I can do nothing but take the prize or die."

"You're wrong…" She told him. He sounded like Cunningham, rambling about set destinies and all that. She really wanted to punch him in the face now, but he was already gone. She stood in silence and thought about her first meeting she'd had with her father since she was born. She still couldn't hate him and that in itself made her sick.

* * *

She walked up the last step that separated the theater from the park with her head still hanging. She heard a sound like a tiny dog yapping at a much larger dog. She looked up to see a girl with short blonde hair running towards her. Finally the sound became words in her ears. 

"It's you! It's you!" Came the girl's voice from afar as if they were about to take part in an emotional reunion. She repeated it over and over, but Kale could not remember ever meeting this woman before. Soon the girl had over taken her and grabbed her hand and shook it dramatically.

"I found you at last!" The girl said with a definite British accent. Soon she remembered where she had seen her face from.

"You're… from Skylark?"

The girl giggled as she continually shook her hand excitedly. "Veronica Deddler, at your service!"

Her grip tightened and suddenly she was pulling her along giggling loudly.

Next Time: Veronica


	9. Chapter 9 Veronica

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Junk: So how's the new description? I'm experimenting with a few things... 

I'm trying my best not to wh&re myself out to get more readers.

It seems our heroine has fallen into a rabbit hole. Let's just hope her world isn't turned upside down...

* * *

The two girls burst into a red brick apartment. A soon as she was free from the excitable woman, she looked around, expecting that almost anything could happen. The girl knocked her into a chair which strangely, turned out to be quite comfortable. The model locked the door and smiled. Kale gulped loudly. 

"I've got my very own little Rocket!" The girl said happily. As strange as it seemed, she didn't feel like the girl had anything truly unusual planned for her. That was probably the only reason she hadn't broken free from her before and ran.

"Or should it be… an Anti Rocket?" Veronica added.

"What do you want?"

"If I have this straight, next week you're going to race Team White Snow while the rest of Team Skylark and I will race Rocket GTS. It's quite plain and simple really; I've already raced against Whit Snow and won. All you have to do is rub off a little Anti Rocket power on me and I'll tell you all about your upcoming opponent."

Kale gritted her teeth, "I don't think what you're asking will be as easy as that."

"Fine, fine, there will be no rubbing if that makes you uncomfortable," The girl said and laughed at her own little joke, "But I still have an offer to make you."

"Correction," Said a voice that Kale could not identify the origin of, "We have an offer to make you,"

"Jacqueline Leangel?"

"Correct," The tall woman said as she came into view. It was strange to hear her voice when she wasn't yelling.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why shouldn't I be here? This is our little clubhouse…" The solemn woman said.

"Clubhouse?" Kale said and looked back at Veronica for some kind of explanation.

The blonde nodded.

"We are part of a small group I like to call, 'The Winner's Chalice' or just, 'The Chalice'. Female pilots give other female pilots information, in the hopes that one day we can have a champion from our side of the gene-pool." Jacqueline said.

"Men have dominated this sport for too long…" Veronica said with unexpected seriousness.

"We were glad to hear, you had taken the place as team-captain of Black Egg. We've been considering accepting you into our club for a while."

Kale stood from the designer chair which very much stood out against the gritty red color of the walls. "I don't know… gossip isn't exactly my thing."

Veronica put her hands on her shoulders, "Please…"

Kale didn't know why, but she was having a hard time resisting the older girl. She turned back to Team Wild Jack's Forward and sighed. She wasn't used to dropping her principles for people she just met.

"Well… I supposed it can't do any harm…"

"Good… but one thing. Defeating Vance will be my pleasure and my pleasure alone, understand? If you fail to comply with this one rule you will removed from The Chalice for good. Got it?"

Kale thought for a moment and finally nodded. Even a the offspring of legends needs some help sometimes.

"Good… let's get this meeting underway then shall we?"

* * *

Kale got off her bike as the evening light dimmed. She walked toward HQ and wondered if she'd be there. 

A solitary light was still on. "Mel?" She called out. The dark-haired girl stumbled out of her mech and ran over to her.

"Where were you? I though we were supposed to have dinner together tonight to celebrate as a team…"

"I'm really sorry Mel, a lot of really strange things happened tonight. I hope I didn't ruin anyone else's night though…"

The bookworm shook her head, "Rye… asked me out."

The older brunette was shocked by the news, but managed to force out a sensible reply "What did you say?"

"Nothing, I haven't told him anything yet." The girl said; her cheeks were bright red.

"Well you'd better tell him soon or he might get the wrong idea."

There were some crickets outside making some sound, but besides that there was no sound in the dimly lit garage.

"I'm glad you're okay." The bespectacled girl said finally.

Next Time: Demitri


	10. Chapter 10 Demitri

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Disclaimage- There's a moral in her somewhere... don't steal. 

I DON'T OWN IGPX.

* * *

Junk- It's been a while I know...

* * *

"It's race day, boys and girls!" Sean Shine shouted into the microphone. "Today, it's the face-off many have been talking about as it is definitely a first time in the sport. Today, we have a race that is entirely black and white, but don't get the wrong idea it's only Team Black Egg against Team White Snow."

Kale tried to get herself focused. The week had just raced by and know she was once again about to get into the cockpit and take on another IG-1 team.

She tried to remember the pointers Veronica had told her almost a week ago, "Team White Snow used to be all about playing dirty and coming up with ways to bend the rules. But at the end of every race, the rules would change and yet again, they'd have to come up with something that had never been done. That didn't last and soon they were just barely managing to stay in the IG-1. But they somehow got a man inside and have been making small adjustments to the rules. That's how the managed to put two robots in the driver's seat even though it's clearly against the regular rules. I wouldn't worry too much, they're still not the team they used to be and they can be beaten." She sighed even though it was definitely encouraging news, but she couldn't let her guard down just yet.

Rye gave Amelia a hug and whispered something in her ear. She hoped their new relationship wouldn't cause them any problems out on the field. Mostly she was worried about Amelia. Rye was definitely not a gentle kid, but she knew he cared about her. She wished she could just be happy for them at least.

At least this way, she wouldn't have to worry about her teammates as much on the track. At least she hoped so.

* * *

Kale traded a few blows with Demitri Caucasus, the only human pilot of Team White Snow. The albino mech gave her hook that had her spinning, but she regained her balance and tackled the aggressor. The pale man's machine managed to reverse it and she was suddenly on the other side of him and slightly off balance. She managed to turn and block his next attack but just barely. 

"Mel, Rye, how are you holding up?" Kale asked as she locked claws with the white robot. The colors of their machines made their small feud seem so much deeper although the two pilots had no immediate personal problems with one another.

"Nothing we can't handle, don't worry about it." Rye said confidently as he swiped a stubby foot under the computerized Defender and made for the other robot Midfielder even though his teammate had no apparent problems holding her own.

"Don't tire yourself out…" Kale told the overprotective boyfriend, although she really wanted to tell him to back off and focus on his own problems."

"Awful close, aren't you?" Demitri asked the other team-captain, obviously amused by her care for her teammates.

"What's it to you?" Kale asked as she blocked the other machine's foot from making contact with her shoulder.

"Nothing, I just think it's cute."

"Don't go there; I'm not in the mood."

"Ha-ha, sounds like you need some privacy. How about a little—"

"Let me guess…" Kale cut the man off, "White Noise?"

"Oh that's right; Windy Bird showed you that one already. I'll let you in on a little secret, my team made it possible for them to use that little jamming trick." The pale Forward said as he knocked his opponent off balance once again.

"I thought you were supposed to be the strong, silent type…" Kale said as her anger against this strange man was peaking.

"Only in front of the cameras, little lady,"

"Incoming!" Rye shouted as a robot-controlled Midfielder was thrown at the two Forwards. Kale managed to dodge and Demitri was hit by his teammate.

"Grah! Get off of me!" The large man shouted as extra weight began to slow him down.

"Data error…" UG-TI137 beeped and the team-captain growled and threw off his teammate. He turned his sights on Kale who wasn't far ahead and seemed to be waiting for him. He growled again, "Let's get serious!"

"It's about time," Kale said confidently.

* * *

"Rye Descatellie takes the checkered flag!" Sean Shine announced to the stadium. 

Just about as soon as she had gotten on her mech she pinned the Defender to the black metal.

"What's your problem?" She asked him with savagery.

"Problem? I won the race, Miss Team-captain." Rye chuckled despite his compromising position. Kale quickly punched him against the solid Defender's mech which was currently in Speed mode.

"Kale!" Amelia shouted as she ran near, attempting to break up the fight.

"No, Mel," The Forward shouted at her teammate, a bit louder than she had intended, "He deserves it!"

She gave him another strong punch before letting him fall to the track floor. Amelia shouted the young Defender's name as she ran up and picked the boy up from under his shoulder. Despite the weight she made a serious face at her team-captain. Kale made an assured sound to say that she had not regretted it at all.

* * *

"I understand you two are not getting along," Charles Sinclair said from behind his desk, he only seemed to act truly serious when a hefty amount of ill-dusted wood was between him and his quarry. 

"That's an understatement…" Rye said with his arm crossed, not even looking at the team manager, "She's jealous, because she didn't get to cross the line first."

"What? Of course not! You left Mel alone to take on Team White Snow's Defender!" Kale said assuredly.

"Only for a little while," Rye said a bit embarrassedly, "But she could take care of it."

"The point is you could have let her do it rather than hogging all the glory and putting her in harm's way."

Rye thought about it for a moment, "But what if Demitri had caught her?"

"You think I'd allow that?"

"Just like you 'allowed' me to pass?"

"Did you honestly expect me to stop my own teammate?"

"Considering how pissy you're gett—"

"Enough!" Pops shouted, trying his best to set things straight, "Obviously there's a problem here. We'll never take the championship if you two don't stop fighting."

"Championship?" Rye scoffed.

"You don't think we can do it?" Kale asked, eying him angrily.

"No offense Miss Team-captain, but Vance would turn you into Rocket road-kill."

"Why you little—"

"Kale!" Pops shouted to once again end the two pilots' bickering, "He might be right. Currently as we are now, we have no chance of winning against Team Rocket GTS. And they just so happen to be our next opponents…"

"What?" Kale gasped, "You can't be serious!"

Charles Sinclair nodded, "Right now, more than anything, we need to step up our game-plan if we expect to win."

* * *

There was knock on the door of Kale Ricarro's apartment. The Forward threw on her usual leather jacket and opened the door. 

"Veronica? What are you doing here? How did you find this place?"

"Oh please Kale, I'm not one of those non-beautiful people, you know. When I ask a question, people give me answers." The blonde said as she let herself in and looked around.

"You're joking right?" Kale asked, not exactly appreciative of the girl's forwardness.

The other pilot turned around and made a face, "Maybe…"

"So… I heard you lost to Rocket GTS…"

"I heard you beat White Snow…" The beauty seemed to almost echo back to her.

"You aren't upset?"

"No… my sister was though…" Veronica said nonchalantly. The girl's sister was the team-captain of Team Skylark. Not only that, she was currently dating Vance Simstrum, emphasis on "currently".

"What are you doing here anyway?"

Veronica sighed, "Okay I lied, I am upset about losing to Rocket GTS. Could you… take me on a ride on your motorcycle? It's a classic isn't it?"

* * *

The bike hummed as Veronica clung to Kale's back. For a second she wondered if the girl had fallen asleep, but considering the tightness of the older girl's grip, it was unlikely. 

A light turned red as she approached it so she slowed to a halt. She looked over her shoulder, "You can come out now."

"No," The helmeted blonde said in a mix of defiance and fear. Kale laughed, but she noticed another man a bike in a nearby lane, he was staring at them.

"Dykes on a bike, Vance Simstrum said, "How quaint…"

Kale growled as she stared down the Rocket-to-be on an obviously much-newer motorcycle. The cocky pilot motioned with his head towards the red light, signifying that he wanted to race. Kale nodded her reply. "To the park then." Vance said, clearly quite sure of his many advantages. The light went green and the two bikes sped off into the evening light.

Next Time: Amy


	11. Chapter 11 Amy

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

"You disobeyed me, sister Kale," Jacqueline said eerily, "You challenged Vance to a race, I understand." 

"And he won. Bike races have nothing to do with the IGPX anyway." Kale said nonchalantly. The stern, self-proclaimed leader of The Chalice could be quite noisy even without a vein popping out of her head.

"I told you the pleasure of humiliating Vance would be my pleasure alone, sister Kale. No one accepts a challenge when they expect to lose. You disobeyed me…"

"Yeah, well maybe I did. And maybe, _I don't care._"

"Don't be impudent with me. I will kick you from this room so fast--"

"Don't even bother…" Kale said as she stood and walked to the door.

"Stop right there, sister Kale. If you leave now, I can assure you that you'll never return…" Jacqueline said, strangely not showing any emotion on the subject at all. How any one person could make her so angry when she was normally so stoic, was a mystery.

Kale made a sound as if she were laughing at the offer to sit down once more, which sounded more like a "humph" to be precise. Quickly the door was open and she, about to pass through it.

"Wait, Kale!" Veronica shouted.

"Don't bother V, I've made my decision."

"Well then…" Veronica said, seeming to stumble over the right words, "I'm going with you."

Kale turned around stunned. "What?" Jacqueline asked, only a slight bit of emotion showing now.

"I'm leaving The Chalice too." Veronica said as she walked past Kale and out the door.

"Are you trying to destroy The Winner's Chalice? Have you no pride for your fellow woman?"

"Get over yourself." Kale said as she shut the door suddenly. Jacqueline fell quiet in the empty room, but smiled to herself.

* * *

A few hours later, Alex Cunningham led Kale into a cluttered, but expansive junkyard. He had told her he wanted to show her that might help her win against Rocket GTS. She was wary at first, but she figured she could take the forty-year-old ex-champion if he tried anything fishy. 

Soon they saw something in the distance. It seemed to be the skeleton of an old car with a bit of the exterior still clinging to it. In the driver's seat was a brunette with an aviator's cap on making absurd noises.

"Who's that?" Kale asked the billionaire.

"That's Amy Stapleton. She used to race with your parents on Team Satomi. She went a bit crazy when her racing partner Luca died."

"Racing partner?"

"It was a cat, they were very close." The tall man said.

"Right…" Kale said. Perhaps she figured that the woman not necessarily always been very normal.

They neared the rundown automobile. Cunningham spoke, "Amy, it's me."

The woman with the fancy headgear looked up, smiled and then gave the man a salute, "Admiral Cunningham! I have not seen you in a while. I thought the Gluttonians might have imprisoned you on their alien home-world."

"Err… no." Cunningham said, perhaps not quite used to the girl's ramblings, "Amy, this is Kale, she is Takeshi and Liz's daughter."

The woman looked stunned for a second and then came in for a closer look until she was mere centimeters from the teenage girl's face. She pulled back suddenly. "You like just like them," Amy said in a sudden although stunned tone. Kale wondered if that meant she had been accepted by the over-the-top woman.

The woman opened a door for her that no longer seemed to be attached to the car and motioned for her to sit down. Although there was nothing to do so, she pretended to sit in the space she had pointed out. It must have once held the passenger's seat.

"Well I'll leave you two to talk things over then." Cunningham said. Amy nodded.

As the man walked a way, the woman cupped her hand to Kale's ear. "When the war is over, I'm going to marry that man." She whispered.

The woman who had once been a champion Midfielder jumped. "Bogey at three o'clock!" the brunette shouted as she tossed a plastic squirt-gun in her lap. "What are you waiting for? They're gonna shoot us down!"

Kale considered what she was being asked to do for a moment, aimed the gun to her right were she assumed "3 o' clock" was and pulled the trigger. "No! To the left." Kale moved the stream, but the older woman didn't seem happy until she was pointing at about 11 o' clock.

"Geez, you're slow. You're lucky it was only a scout."

"So…" Kale said, hoping to get to business soon enough, "Cunningham told me you could help with an IGPX race."

"Race?" Amy asked, "They still have those? Oh well, sometimes I forget that the world goes on without me. If it were not for those damned Gluttonians, I might know what to say. If those races still exist, I'm sure I wouldn't be much help…"

"Then why did Cunningham tell me—?"

"What do you think?"

"Well… maybe he thought you could tell me about my parents. Tell me what made them great racers…"

"I have something even better." The crazy woman said as she hopped from the car. Despite her expertise at possibly doing this for many years, the whole body-frame shook and groaned loudly.

She led the young pilot to a large room that looked to be a classic semicircular, one-plane hangar. Inside, the ex-Midfielder dug through an old drawer until she pulled out a dusty blue and white game system. She handed it to her and continued to dig through the drawer. She pulled open another drawer, "A-ha!"

The girl handed her a large book and blew the dust from the cover. Once Kale could see again she read the title, "Confucius".

* * *

Kale lay on her back on the light blue covers and played the antique video game. She was pretty surprised that it still worked more than anything. Above her was the face of Veronica Deddler, who was wearing reading glasses. Despite the color of her hair, she managed to look quite smart in them. Between her hands she held the ancient book on the Chinese scholar whom Kale's mother apparently knew a lot about. 

The dark-haired girl snuggled against the pillow she had made from the Skylark pilot's cream-colored leg. "You're comfy…" The Forward pointed out.

"Shh, we're supposed to be learning about your parents," The girl said, slightly jokingly. For a second she looked like an incredibly gorgeous librarian. Kale dismissed the thought because she had never heard of something like that.

The Black Egg Forward wasn't exactly sure why she had come to the blonde for help on this. She and Amelia might have not seen eye-to-eye on her treatment of Rye the other day, but she was definitely better suited for the task. Her eyes strayed from the game screen to view pastel-colored studio apartment Veronica called her home. It was definitely a swanky pad.

When her eyes returned she found her cartoon animal had died and her already low score lowering. She didn't really get what she was trying to do anyway.

She closed the blue and white game system and sat up from her human pillow.

"Veronica…" Kale said as she turned to the blonde, who made a very cute inquisitive look that was only aided by the glasses she wore, "Why are you helping me?"

"Because you asked." Veronica said, looking above the tops of her glasses at her with a slight dramatic flair to her words.

"You liar," Kale said and she tackled the model and they both nearly fell off the bed.

Next Time: Luca


	12. Chapter 12 Luca

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Author Junk- Its been way too long, I know and I've got no good excuses. I'd like to reward you all for your patience or whatever with in awesome chapter, but... 

Here's some cameo fluff instead!

* * *

Kale looked out from above her arms which rested atop her knees. She had given up on trying to learn about her father from the gaming system hours ago. She already knew the man was a bit childish. What else could it possibly teach her? 

Behind her, the youngest daughter of the Deddler clan sat, still reading. Or that was at least what Kale thought.

"Are you worried about your race against your father's team?" The blonde said suddenly.

The dark-haired girl made an affirmative sound from behind her arms.

"Don't stress yourself, whatever happens, happens."

Kale sat up slightly more with a smile beginning to grow on her face, "Smart _and_ beautiful? Where _did_ they find you?"

The blonde laughed cheerfully, "You were the one who has had me reading about philosophy all day."

They both smiled and there was silence for a few moments. A thought came into the Black Egg pilot's mind, "Why didn't your sister join The Chalice?"

"Jacqueline offered, but she declined."

Kale laughed at this. She figured it had to do with her growing dislike of Team Wild Jack's Forward.

"So, then why did you join?"

Veronica sighed quietly, "Not all of us can be as confident in their abilities as my sister…"

* * *

Kale sat in her IG Machine and pressed a few button idly. 

"Check the right arm, would you?" Kale called out to one of the mechanics. The greasy and hairy, but all the same, handsome, young man gave her the affirmative and rushed off.

The somewhat troubled youth slumped back into the seat and sighed. The thought of the blue and white gaming system floated into her mind. She pulled it from her pocket and turned it on.

She remembered again why she had given up on it as she once again saw the words "Game Over" on the screen. She was about to turn it off when she heard a voice.

"Ey! State your name and business." A high-pitched voice erupted from seemingly nowhere.

Kale looked around, but saw no one, "I don't—"

"Pssh, another dumb human. Down here."

The spiky-haired girl looked back at the animated screen in time to see the letters L, U, C and A flash on the screen one after the other.

"Luca? That's—"

"Huh? You know me? This is unexpected almost as unexpected as seeing anyone playing this game anymore."

A pixelated cat walked across the screen and sat down in the middle and looked around. "Wait a second, this is the loudmouth boy's game. How did you get your paws on it?"

Kale stared in disbelief as the cat-like visage talked to her. She had seen things like holograms and artificial intelligence and sometimes the two combined, but never something like this.

"A-Amy… Amy Stapleton gave it to me." The pilot yammered to the talking portable she held in her hands.

"Please tell me you're talking about some other Amy Stapleton, and not _my_ Amy Stapleton."

"_Your_ Amy Stapleton?"

"Yeah, _my_ Amy Stapleton, I've even got her copyrighted. What do you want anyway?"

"Y-you started talking to me,"

"Ah yes, the infinite boredom that comes with living in a programmed universe for several years. Even with my feline apathy, I was no match for a boredom that overpowering. Never mention it again."

"I-I didn't…"

"Riiiiiight, who did you say you were again?"

"K-Kale, Kale Ricarro."

"Well let's go ahead and put that on the board for huge coincidences today. So, what's your relation to the loud, tall one?"

"If you're talking about Liz Ricarro, I'm her daughter."

"So it's been that long, eh? From your voice, you have to be at least sixteen or seventeen right? Not like I pride myself on being able to guess the ages of humans. It just comes with having the ability to contain surreal amounts of information in my digital brain."

"So… you're _the_ Luca."

"Well if there any other cats around there claiming to be, then I can assure you that they're fakes. I'm Luca, _the_ Luca. The Luca who's been bored out of his digital mind for over a decade it would seem."

"His? You're a boy cat? Your voice is so…"

"You try sounding manly when your vocal chords are about the size of a straw."

"I don't suppose the size of your vocal cords matter to a digital cat…"

"Boy, you're a tough crowd. Is there anyone else to talk to around there? In this… what is it? A cockpit? Yup definitely a cockpit, I'd never forget those sounds. Kind of ironic that I'd talk to you in the cockpit of an IG machine, no? We're starting quite a list of coincidences here."

"Who exactly did you have in mind? To talk to I mean… I could take you to where Miss Stapleton is, if you want."

"No, that's okay, the last time I tried to talk to her in this form, she freaked out. I suppose my physical body had been long dead by that time. Just give me someone smart to talk to."

* * *

"Hey Mel, what do you know about Luca?" Kale asked as she looked into the cockpit of the pilot who seemed to be having a lot easier time fine-tuning her mech than she had. 

"Oh, wha? The cat?" The girl asked, somewhat stunned that her team-captain had come to her so suddenly when they hadn't talked since their race with White Snow. The taller teenager nodded and Amelia noticed something in her hand that although dusty, contrasted sharply with what she was wearing.

"Uh… He was a cat. He was the partner of Amy Stapleton who was Midfielder for Team Satomi. He was regarded as being a huge help back when the original Team White Snow caused them some problems. Other that that not much, why?"

"He wants to talk to you," Kale said as she handed the girl the plastic device.

* * *

"So you downloaded your mind into this video game's online database?" Amelia repeated thoughtfully. 

"Yeah, I had some free time so I figured, 'What the heck?'"

Amelia nodded with accompanying vocals. Kale watched her from outside the cockpit as she had a much easier time getting information out of the creature.

"I also downloaded the exact characteristics of my body into here as well. So if you ever need a racing partner, I can download my mind into some kind of hologram generator and maybe we can convince some people that I'm a real cat."

"Actually, the current IGPX rules are much more lenient on racers with Artificial Intelligence and devices resembling it. On that logic, they can't possibly not accept a program that is the exact copy of the mind of an animal… I think. At any rate they'd have to check you for any secret programs so they know we aren't cheating."

"I'm not letting just anyone go looking through my data files, do you unde—"

"What's going on over here?" Rye asked as he appeared on the other side of the Midfielder's cockpit, "Is Kale bothering you?"

"No, she isn't. In fact we were just discussing how I might be getting a new partner to race with. That is… if Kale says its okay." Amelia told her quasi lover, and then turned her team-captain.

"Huh, oh yeah sure, if it's good enough for a champion pilot its good enough for Team Black Egg."

"Team Black Egg?" Luca asked in about the most startled you could get from someone so normally apathetic, "That team is still around? I thought they fell of the face of the earth."

"They did…" Rye told him.

Next Time: Rye

* * *


	13. Chapter 13 Rye

The Ballad of Team Black Egg

* * *

Author Junk: This is the part where I'd normally come up with an excuse for the delay, but I'm not going to waste your time with that nonsense. I have no excuse because the only reason this is so late is because I've convinced myself that somehow, suddenly this story will take off with the popularity I always expected for it. I can see now that I've been childish in concern to that ordeal. I even missed my own stories one year anniversary with my last update. 

What kind of author am I?

But you didn't come here to hear me whine. Instead, I'd like to thank killr noob for taking the time to review my story in depth, it means a lot. Maybe I can add my input and respond to your constructive criticism.

Ch 1- It was only obvious that Takeshi eventually take up Rocket G's legacy. The idea of multiple Rockets is what brought on the idea of an arrogant someone trying to take the title by force, prompting the creation of Vance.

Ch 6- I'm not sure how cutting out an unnecessary sequence that we all have seen before plenty of times is such a bad thing. The countdown is fine and good for the anime because in animation, it holds a level of drama and suspense, but when in words... numbers, it is just arbitrary. I don't feel that they would add anything to my story.

Ch 7- I too have questioned the necessity of this sequence. It stems from my need to add depth to what would otherwise be background characters. Donald is a showboat of a kind, and his companions are more reserved, leaving less space for them to bloom into their own characters. I don't know why I made them gay, an impulse maybe... maybe foreshadowing. Ironically, almost every other aspect of Team Windy Bird comes from Disney movies, even the name.

Ch 8- Wow, quite the reaction. Would you hug your father who abandoned you and made your mother very unhappy? If anything Kale can't understand herself why she isn't furious with him and hate him for all he's done. Inside she feels like she should cause him physical harm to make up for the emotional pain he caused her mother, like she herself would have done in her heyday. Maybe that has to do with not making those same mistakes she made...

Ch 10- I must admit that I far more enjoy writing character developing scenes than races. Races are fun, but their so much story to these characters that's begging to be revealed. I know its an IGPX story... But there's only so much that six robots can do on one track. I'd hate to overuse the racing element now and bore everyone with it later when it really matters and is crucial to the plot.

And I don't take that as a flame, its a pleasure as an writer to see the opinions of the readers, because I was sadly born with only one set of opinions and I don't exactly know how other people will see things.

Ch 12- How is Luca becoming Amelia's partner a bit off? Luca would never cooperate with Kale properly, they are too independent. If you haven't noticed, Mel and Amy have a bit of a connection, even that should seem fairly obvious from them both being smart, young, female Midfielders. Luca going to her was the obvious choice... but you will have to wait and see if a few quirks shared with an old partner is enough to allow the two of them to work together.

Now, once more into the fray...

* * *

Unlike what some people had begun to think about him, Rye did have a conscience. The fact that he had asked out a girl he really just didn't like in order to gain some leverage on an IGPX team he didn't like much either was a constant stab in his morality. He'd considered telling everyone the whole truth, but then Mel might cry and he really wouldn't be able to live with himself. 

Pops was telling him something important, he could tell because he was acting like it wasn't a big deal, but Rye couldn't focus. He had far too much on his mind for it, even if it would really help in two days when they raced Rocket GTS. He nodded apathetically and let himself out of the manager's office. He hailed down one of the particularly greasy young mechanics and asked about the game last night, there had to be at least _one_.

The cheerful wrench jockey babbled on, clearly quite enthusiastic about that particular game. Rye could not for the life of him, figure out what sport he was talking about, but then again he wasn't really listening. He motioned to the young man to inform him that he was too busy for his life story and started walking to his mech as the man kept talking about something, clearly not quite ready to be cut off yet.

He intended to get back to the tuning he had been almost been doing when Pops called him in, but he noticed Kale peering into Mel's cockpit, which he found odd when he considered they hadn't seemed to have talked to each other since the Forward had attacked him after their last race. He climbed up the other side of the parked IG Machine and peered in, almost hoping for a fight.

"It's settled then, Luca can be a part of our team!" Mel said with a wide grin.

"Wait, I think I might have changed my mind," The digital cat said hastily from the old video game.

"Well, it's not like you have anything better to do right?" Kale asked with a smirk.

"… I hate you all…" The cat said after a pause.

"Right then, I'll go tell Pops." Kale said and straightened herself up. When the Forward was gone, Rye realized it might be his only chance to get his fault off his chest.

"Mel, there's something I want to tell you…" He said slowly. The girl looked at him intently and Rye felt like he was going to explode. Now, now, now, do it now, was all he could think about and he almost forgot what he had to admit.

There was a loud tremor which sent the repenting boy's head into a very hard part of his girlfriend's mech. He stumbled back but caught himself before he fell off. Clutching the side of the cockpit Rye let out a sigh of relief.

"What's all that racket about?" Mister Hakioka shouted grumpily and ran outside with gruff, but unwise valiance.

For a few moments it was silent until the old mechanic's voice echoed back into the room, but it wasn't intelligible except for a few curse words. Then there was a mechanical whirr and the man shouted out in pain. Amelia shrieked suddenly and Rye thought his ears would explode considering how close she was.

The machine suddenly transformed, this time, really knocking the poor boy off. The girl sped outside leaving her boyfriend on the floor, nearly blinded by the pain of the fall. He swore when he was finally well enough to think of one word expressive enough.

He looked up and saw an oily face above him. He shot up into a sitting position and looked out the large doors Mel had raced through. When he squinted he could make out the shapes of at least three racing mechs out in the darkness. He was on his feet and in his own mech in record time.

When the hulking machine had finally sped out there Kale was close behind, obviously informed by the ruckus. The defender took that as a good sign that he hadn't been on the cold floor of Black Egg HQ too long and made it out to the point where Amelia was.

"Don't do that, you'll hurt him!" Mel shrieked as two IG Machines tossed the old man Team Black Egg they called their Head Mechanic around. One was of the Forward distinction and the other was a Midfielder. They were covered in things that would be easily outlawed in any self-respecting IGPX league. The machines had also seemed to have been customized to extremes by hand, giving them unnecessary bulk and made them just a general sight to behold. Their spray-painted coloration was starting to make Rye's mind itch, like he'd seen that combination of blue, purple, black and grey somewhere before. The Black Egg Midfielder made idle snatches at Mr. Hakioka realizing there wasn't much way to get him without hurting him.

The Midfielder-type robot caught the mechanic, but didn't toss him again. "Hey DD, I'm getting bored of this! What'dyou say we throw him in the bay?" The name struck Rye like a bullet and a wave of memories flew back to him.

"Great idea, Arch. Mind if I have the honors?" The one called "DD" said.

"Not at all, boss" The other one responded and tossed the old man to him. The Forward robot made like a backwards basketball shot and poor Mr. Hakioka was sent flying.

Amelia shrieked again and quickly transformed and sped off between the two laughing hooligans in flash.

"You!" Rye shouted and rushed them like an out of control freight train.

He recoiled back onto the hard concrete with a crash and looked up to see what he hit. Standing in his way was a Defender mech of the same coloration as the others. It stood there with out even a hint of being hit by him. There were three of them, just like an IGPX team and they were.

"Wolfbelt!!" He shouted in a rage, eager to get on his feet and take on all three.

"Rye!" Kale shouted commandingly from behind him, "What the hell's going on?"

"Mind your own business!" He shot back at his captain. He charged again, but didn't even get as much momentum as last time and the mysterious Defender easily knocked him off of his feet.

"Gragh!" He shouted in anguish.

"What's your problem, little boy?" Said a female voice, Rye didn't realize at first that it was coming from the brick wall of an IG Machine that stood above him. She turned to her teammates, "You didn't do that much damage without me did you?"

The Forward shrugged, "We was only having a little fun and he just came at us, Mincie, I swear,"

The Midfielder nodded and looked at the fallen Defnder, "Who are ya? What makes ya' think you can jus' charge the boss like that, huh?"

"You guys…" Rye said slowly as his IG Machine rose up from the street, his voice quavering with anger and frustration, "Wolfbelt… you… you…"

He started yelling, he couldn't hold it in any longer, "You killed them! You killed my teammates!"

"Teammates? Hey! You're the Team Sulblaze kid. How's life been treating you?" The one called "DD" said.

"Don't patronize me, Duchamel, I'm going to return the favor soon enough,"

Duchamel laughed, "_You_ kill _me_? You've got a wild imagination, there kid, I'll give you that."

"Stop calling me kid!" Rye shouted as he charged the threesome again and the Defender and Midfielder easily slid out of his way. Duchamel caught him mid-charge and slipped back letting his mech fall onto his mechanical knee. He spun around behind and a large chain slipped out of a hidden compartment in the Forward's arm and wrapped around the Defender's neck. Try as he might he couldn't get his hulking claws around the Forward's own neck.

Kale charged the other two, she had been standing back, hoping she wouldn't have to violate IGPX rules and get in a fight outside of the track, but these assholes weren't giving her a lot of options. The duo was like lightning and soon they had their own chains on both her arms. They dug her mech into the concrete with a quick jerk.

With a flash the chains snapped and she quickly got to her feet to see a mech standing behind the IG Machine who was holding her teammate captive. It was silver with goldenrod accenting, she recognized him instantly. Before she could even wonder how he got there, his arm was pulled back palm open and buzzing with an erratic energy in it. The palm smashed into the rogue Forward and without so much as a pop, one of his arms came clean off at the shoulder.

Rye broke free and slugged Duchamel with all his might. He looked at his savior who stood there without saying a word.

"A little in over your head there, Little Rocket?" Vance said to Kale, barely noticing the Defender in front of him, "Try to work out your aggressions on the track, next time."

"It was self-defense," Kale told him solemnly. At her side to other silver machines held her attackers in an effective hold.

"That's for the League to decide." Vance said and took hold of the Wolfbelt Forward, "Scram!" He threw him off to the side and then tossed him his arm, which he caught ungracefully.

"Don't let him get away! Hey!" Rye shouted and began to chase him, but Vance stopped him, "He's a murderer and an illegal street racer!"

"But how can you prove he's a murderer without showing yourself as an illegal street racer as well?"

"Since when do you care about my well-being?" Rye asked condescendingly. Who was Vance to tell him this, he barely knew him.

"You're right, I don't give two shits about you, but if there's any reason why Black Egg won't be racing us, it better not be because their Defender is an irresponsible street urchin."

"Why you!" Rye shouted as he threw a sloppy punch at the champion racer which was caught with ease. The sound of pounding, mechanical footsteps could be heard behind the angered pilot and he turned to see his team captain coming towards them.

"No one talks to my teammate like that, Vance. I may not like him very much, but he's part of my team and if you mess with him, you mess with me! Got it?" Kale said with a certain machismo for someone of her gender.

"I hoped you'd say that, Little Rocket… But let's save it for the track, shall we?" The man in the silver mech said and rounded up his teammates and sped off.

* * *

The trio stood in the blaringly white room silently. The looked awkwardly off in different directions, feeling somewhat responsible and guilty. Charles Sinclair entered and took off his hat, he did something that was a cross between a smile and a chuckle and went to the side of the bed. 

"The doctors say you're a tough old coot." Pops said to the old mechanic lying uncomfortably in the hospital bed, "Just don't take too much time off, or you might get replaced."

"Don't be ridiculous," Mister Hakioka said gruffly, "Those kids you have me working with couldn't tie their shoes without me around. Not like they'll have too much work to do without me, since we'll be cleaning the floor with Rocket GTS, right?"

With the last part the gruff old man looked at Team Black Egg's Forward, who tried to smile. The mechanic laughed loudly, but was cut off by a coughing fit. When he was done he clutched his chest and smiled, "You guys have got nothing to worry about. Vance is all talk,"

Kale smiled a bit wider now, wishing she could have the same confidence as the man in the white hospital bed. He hadn't been there, that old fool didn't see what Vance could do, she thought. She looked at Mel, who met her eyes but quickly looked away. She turned to Rye, but his gaze never left the same tile on the ceiling. This is a disaster, she thought to herself.

Soon the smiles faded from both Pops and Mr. Hakioka's faces.

Next Time: Razz


End file.
